“You would add to the squad and there may be people who are leaving, but I think, at Sunderland, when I had taken over they had already got rid of the likes of Danny Graham, Steven Fletcher and one or two others.

“Yann M’Vila and DeAndre Yedlin had left at the end of last season after their loan spells too, so before you start you are four or five players down, two of which started in the team.

“We have had some things out of our control in this window, that is why I might have to bring in more players than I’d want to.

“We have no choice. You must add on top of that the unexpected long-term injuries.”